Cress, Before The Escape
by SumoTheGreat
Summary: What happened to Cress before she met Cinder and escaped? Mostly accurate, except for the fact that Sybil probably hated Cress a lot more in the actual series. (Will post more soon) ps. I don't own anything. Except for this. And hopefully, in the near future, 500 dachshund puppies.
1. PROLOGUE

**_PROLOGUE_**

* * *

_Dr. Sage Darnel looked out at the lunar countryside from inside the luxury hover. He pushed back his spectacles and concentrated on counting the many farms dotting the view._

_His lovely wife, Acacia, looked at him with a puzzled look on her face._

"_What's wrong? Are you worried again?"_

_Sage scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed. "I guess."_

"_We've gone through this before. Absolutely no chance. Do you know how many babies are born (statistically) with no detectable bioelectricity? Why, your cousin Louise-"_

"_I know." Dr. Darnel sighed, absentmindedly stroking Cress's cheek with one finger. "Just...it's not impossible."_

"_It is impossible. How could our darling little daughter be nothing but a lowly shell? Look at her. She's perfect…" Acacia kissed Cress's forehead and held her close._

"_Fine then". Dr. Darnel smiled, convinced. "But she's going to have a miserable life if you keep trying to teach her university level lunar history." _

"_SO WHAT?" Acacia looked more amused than offended. "It's going to come up for her exams!"_

"_In sixteen years! Besides, I think she slept through it all."_

"_Never mind that." Acacia stroked Cress's cheek with one finger. "I'm convinced she already memorized the first fifty Lunar monarchs and their spouses."_

"_Look, she's barely four days old. As if her brain capacity is developed enough to retain any information under the form of verbal data in a manner that can be recalled on command. And you know that lunars with low bioelectricity from birth are 14% more likely to suffer a complete loss of memory from before they turn 1, and-"_

_Their conversation was abruptly cut off as the hover stopped. _

"_Oh. Looks like we arrived." Acacia smiled, straightening her feathered hat and gently lifting Cress. "Come on, dear. At that rate, we're going to be late by 15.324 seconds."_

_Dr. Darnel forced himself to get off of the hover and followed his wife into the Department of Lunar Threat Control._

_Inside, the DLTC was a maze of long halls leading into rooms with multiple security systems. Numerous android guards patrolled and one of them was waiting at the entrance. _

"_ID chip?" He held out a scanner, resting his imposing glare on Dr. Darnel. Gulping nervously, he complied._

_Instantly, the android guard relaxed a bit. "Dr. Sage Darnel. Welcome. Please head to room 130. Feel free to ask any android for directions. And if you try to enter anywhere other than the restrooms and your destination, please be aware that you will be annihilated. Your compliance is appreciated." He resumed his previous stance, fixing his camera on the entrance._

_Dr. Darnel just stood there, knees shaking. _

_Acacia grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the guard towards the halls. "Come on! At this rate we'll be late by 17.354 seconds."_

_Dr. Darnel glanced at Acacia. Her expression was calculated. "Are you afraid that…"_

_Acacia looked at him, annoyed. "No. Not a chance."_

"_You're never this prickly. Something's bothering you."_

_Acacia looked at him, even more annoyed."Yes. Now let's get this over with."_

_Soon after they arrived in the waiting room, Sybil entered. _

"_Sybil!" Acacia smiled. "What a pleasant surprise." _

"_Greetings." Sybil smiled back, revealing rows of perfectly whitened teeth. _

"_I wasn't expecting your presence, Thaumaturge Mira." Dr. Darnel was much less pleased than his wife. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"_

"_Oh don't mind him, Sybil. He's just paranoid." Holding up Cress, Acacia cooed: "This is Crescent Moon. Isn't she just the most adorable thing?" Her voice held a hint of pride. _

"_Yes, yes, she's just the most adorable thing." Sybil didn't look like she meant it. "However, I have some bad news. She may be adorable, but she's a shell."_

"_A_ _**SHELL**__?" Acacia was surprised. "The kind that have a small brain tumor or the kind that don't have the gene?"_

"_The kind that don't carry the gene. Seriously, it's not even dormant." Sybil's voice was monotone with a hint of disgust, as if she simply wanted to get it over with. _

"_Are you sure?" Acacia was still skeptical. "Could we give her a computerised axial tomography or something?"_

"_Yes, I'm sure. And no, that's not necessary." _

"_Well, then," Acacia stopped cradling Cress and gave her a disgusted glare. "I want nothing to do with her."_

"_I can take her to the extermination chamber." Sybil held out her arms._

"_Oh, I'm so sorry about this, Sybil," Apologized Acacia, dropping Cress into Sybil's outstretched arms rather carelessly. _

"_Don't worry, Acacia," Muttered Sybil, scowling at Cress. "I've done this before."_

"_Well, goodbye," Acacia smiled at Sybil, reaching into her leather purse for a hand sanitiser. _

"_Yes, goodbye." Sybil forced a smile at Acacia, and left the room._

"_Well." Acacia looked at Dr. Darnel. "I suppose we could try again."_

"_How do you feel about this?" Darnel's voice was quiet._

"_About what?"_

"_Handing our daughter over to be 'exterminated'."_

"_She's a shell." Acacia's voice was neutral. "They should be exterminated. Shells are horribly unpredictable and dangerous."_

"_We could have gone to earth…"_

"_What?"_

"_Nothing."_

"_Well." Acacia stood up, straightening her dress. "That's over with. Come on, dear," she added, extending a hand to Dr. Darnel. "Let's leave this place. We have redecorating to do."_

_Reluctantly, Dr. Darnel took her hand and followed her out._

* * *

_Sybil looked at Cress, who was still fast asleep. _

"_Oh, you poor thing," She murmured, gently stroking her cheek with one manicured finger. "Don't worry. You probably won't die." _

_Sybil dropped Cress into the mechanic grasp of a medical android programmed to run a dna test and predict the characteristics she would exhibit in the future. Cress whimpered and started crying softly as a hypodermic syringe was jabbed into a large vein on one of her arms._

_Sybil ignored her, staring intently at a portscreen mounted on the wall. "Low level of strength, low level of logic-based problem solving, rather inconveniently high level of arachnophobia," she read, not noticeably distressed. She glanced briefly at Cress, whose cries had decreased to a quiet whimper. "looks like you might actually end up being killed. Your blood alone wouldn't make up for your incompetence." Looking back at the screen , she added, "You will also have a sweet temperament, a love of chocolates, and-oh dear. Inability to comprehend mathematics, medical science, or memorise history. Where did all those wonderful traits your parents have go? Yeah, you're screwed."_

_Reaching for Crescent, Sybil suddenly noticed another trait on the portscreen that she hadn't seen. "Huh. Extreme creativity, could end up being ingenious at computer programming, hacking, and all those other things useful to her royal majesty queen Channary that I don't care to remember."_

"_Muttering to herself, Sybil added: "The last one went insane and stabbed himself to death with a pack of toothpicks. We need a replacement."_

_Smiling to herself, Sybil gently picked up Cress and cradled her gently. "Come on, Crescent," she murmured. "We're going to the lava tubes."_

* * *

End. Rate, Review, anything?


	2. Chapter 1

_**"When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile. Completely unrelated to the story, but I wanted to put it here."**_

* * *

Sybil attempted to sit gracefully on the hard wooden chair in her office deep within the lava tubes. Across from her sat Cress, now six years old.

"Well." Sybil was less than pleased. "Are you _absolutely sure _that portscreens bore you and that you have no idea what hacking is?"

Cress nodded meekly, intimidated by the sight of the angered thaumaturge.

Sybil threw her hands up in frustration, her usual reserve gone. Her eyebrows knitted together and blood rushed to her face. "You're bored by portscreens, you dislike technology, and you can't hack. At this rate, we'll NEVER get a hacker. Never, NEVER, NEVER!" she threw her port at the wall out of anger.

Reserve now back, Sybil reached out with one finger, complete with long acrylic claw nail, and raised Cress's chin so that she'd look at her. And also so that she could dig her nails in, roughly and harshly, to help convey her point.

"Do you understand," She hissed, voice full of venom, "That her majesty expects immediate results from the Shell program? And that I won't hesitate to have you killed? Was I wrong to save you, all those years ago, when you were meant to be exterminated?"

Cress gulped. "No, mistress. I'm very grateful, I really am!" She bit her quivering lip as her sight began to blur with tears.

Sybil sat back, satisfied with this answer. She felt a small twinge of pity deep down in her heart. Cress was actually quite adorable, with big blue eyes and frizzy blonde hair that reminded her of Acacia. And like all lunars, Sybil loved pretty things.

Sybil dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands. "She's just a shell. Get over it." she muttered, quiet enough so that distraught Cress wouldn't hear.

"Alright." Sybil reacher forward and patted Cress's tear-stained cheek. "Maybe Ruby will give results." Reaching into a nearby medical kit, she pulled out a hypodermic needle. "Now then. Your arm."

* * *

Cress sat on her bed, swinging her legs back and forth and watching her two roommates gossip. Both roommates were girls older than her that Sybil had kept for the same purpose: that they might become prominent hackers for her majesty, Queen Levana, now that Channary had died. The room itself was small and furnished as plainly as possible, with gray walls, a small, shared closet, and three uncomfortable beds. The austere bathroom facilities shared by all the shells were down the hall. Sybil Mira, like every other lunar, didn't usually view shells as important enough to waste such 'frivolous' items as toys and books on.

Ruby, one of the roommates, paused her gossiping to glare at Cress. "Eavesdropping again, are you?" she seethed.

Petunia, the other roommate, glared even more scornfully. "Go die," she snarled. "Everyone knows that mistress Sybil won't keep three of us."

"And either Petunia and I will become hackers first," Added Ruby.

"And the other will become backup." Continued Petunia.

"And no matter what, you'll wind up dead!" finished Ruby.

"MISTRESS IS GOING TO KILL YOU! MISTRESS IS GOING TO KILL YOU!" sang Petunia.

Both roommates laughed at the thought, their faces filled with glee.

Cress retreated to a corner of the bed and hugged her knees."They don't know that for sure," she whispered to herself, trying to stifle the flow of tears.

Ruby and Petunia threw their heads back and laughed some more.

"Stupid Crescent," chortled Ruby.

"We're twins," snorted Petunia.

"We're equally gifted," chuckled Ruby.

"We'll finish together." this was said simultaneously.

Cress buried her face in her knees and tried to ignore them.

"Maybe you can get a nice earthen family to adopt you," cooed Petunia in mock sympathy.

"Maybe mistress will pity you and let you live in the lava tubes forever," crooned Ruby, batting her eyelashes and acting cute for emphasis.

"Or until you die of Regolith poisoning like Queen Channary." sniggered Petunia.

Ruby and Petunia cackled, before resuming their gossiping.

Cress buried her face in her only pillow and tried to disappear.

* * *

**Does Cress sound too intelligent for a six year old? Yes. But never mind that.**

**Also, Ruby and Petunia are both 11 years old. Yes, they're douchebags.**

**The reason why I posted is because of the two reviewers and the one nice follower. LOVE YOU! MUA!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Oops. That took me a month. I actually had most of it done a week after I posted the first chapter.**

**Shout-outs go to nonamefangirl, lovelunarchron, Guest, other Guest, and Hola.**

**VIP shout out goes to Hyper-Blossom Z. YOUR SPECIAL!**

* * *

Sybil tucked a long strand of dark hair behind her ear and sighed. A few months ago, she had realized that her previous strategy of providing Cress, Ruby and Petunia with net access in hopes that they'd figure out how to hack by themselves simply wasn't working. Now, she was forced to take a more hands-on approach.

There was a knock at the door, before the beeping of the id chip and fingerprint scanners as they recognized an identity. In walked in Gianna Fitzgerald, royal hacker.

Gianna was around Sybil's age, with bright blue eyes, a sweet nature, and the stereotypical dumb blonde behavior. As the daughter of a successful businessman and a famous bombshell actress, she had a natural gift for hacking and was eventually given a highly paid job working on Levana's team of hackers. Her lineage and importance, along with her pleasant nature, made her claim to rank in the lunar court, and thus she was deemed important enough to be informed of the 'shell guardianship program.'

Sybil had requested that Levana let Gianna come teach 'certain shells' the basics of hacking, in hopes that they would eventually become prominent hackers themselves.

Levana had been much displeased. "That shell program," she sneered, sinking her blood red nails into the soft material of her dress. "And those disgusting, pathetic shells. Constantly requiring more resources. With all the trouble I go to for saving them, you'd think they'd be more grateful."

"With all due respect my queen," Sybil simpered,bowing low, "If one of those shells were to develop hacking skills, we'd surely have an advantage over those insignificant earthens. And we'll make sure this one doesn't stab her eyes out with toothpicks."

After a long debate, this was eventually approved.

"So," Gianna smiled pleasantly, despite her disgust at having to face not one but **three** vile, disgusting shells in a matter of minutes. "Oh, Sybil, I am so glad you're here. How was your day?"

Sybil smiled back. "Oh, the usual. Early morning manicure, follow up appointment with plastic surgeon, makeup and skincare recommendations with my beautician, all the while comm-ing those imbeciles at the weapon development facility. I've been soooo busy ever since I was promoted to head thaumaturge."

Gianna smiled sympathetically and reached out to pat Sybil's hand. "Oh, you poor, poor thing. It's been what, three years now? The whole 'head thaumaturge' thing must be so hard on you."

Sybil threw her head back and laughed. "Oh, the things I would do for Levana. "

Gianna's smile faded. She wrung her hands and grimaced. "Oh, Sybil," she whispered. "I'm suddenly reminded of the fact that I'll going to be facing a group of shells. Is it horrible? Do they _bite_?

"How do you do it?" she asked, face desperate.

Sybil shrugged, blinking sympathetically. "Give them instructions, don't bother with coddling them, and hope they don't touch you? You may also want to burn that outfit after this. I hate shells myself, and I didn't volunteer for this, you know."

Swiping her wrist on one scanner and pressing her entire hand on another, Sybil stepped into a room motioned for Gianna to follow her. Inside the room were Cress, Ruby, and Petunia.

"Right." Sybil turned towards Gianna, her face apologetic. "I'll be watching the lesson, if that's okay with you.

"Oh, I'm that's perfectly fine. In fact, I want you here in case of of the shells is rabid."

As Sybil left, Gianna turned towards the shells and forced a smile.

Cress looked up at the woman who had walked in with Mistress Sybil. She was really pretty, with flawless skin, big, puppy dog eyes, and silky, slightly waved hair. Even better, she wasn't glaring at her or telling her to go die, unlike every other lunar that Cress had met so far.

Mistress Sybil scowled at her and moved to sit on an ornate chair, a comm device clipped to hear ear, where she frowned some more and watched them intently.

"Alright." even though she wasn't glaring, the strange woman didn't seem pleased at all with the situation at hand. She smiled, but it seemed forced, unlike the easy one she had given Sybil moments ago. "I'm Gianna, I didn't want to meet you, shells disgust me and I completely refuse to remember your names so you'll be number one, you'll be number two and you can be number three."

Cress's eyes widened and she beamed happily. This 'Gianna' was the nicest, sweetest, most kind person she had ever met!

"So who can tell me what hacking is?" continued Gianna.

Cress's heart sank. She had no idea what the answer was.

Ruby and Petunia's hands shot up immediately.

"Hacking is when you break into people's computer networks." chirped Ruby.

"And you take their information and stuff." Added Petunia.

"Correct. Hacking is when you find weaknesses in computer networks, and you use them to steal, modify or destroy data." Gianna seemed to have memorised the last bit without understanding it. Her skill only surfaced when she was sitting in front of a computer, doing hands-on hacking.

"Do any of you know any hacking?"

No one answered.

"Hmm." Gianna's forced smile disappeared and her delicate brows twisted into the smallest of frowns. "Then we'll start now. "

After about an hour of lessons, Cress had made no progress, but Ruby and Petunia seemed to be naturals.

Cress's heartbeat quickened and she bit her lip. Sybil was frowning rather fiercely and looking right at her like a second-era farmer might look at a hen that wasn't laying eggs.

Gianna, on the other hand, seemed to be satisfied with the results. She forced another smile and addressed the shells.

"You. Number one." she pointed at Ruby. "That was good."

"And you." she pointed at Petunia, "That was good too."

"And you." she pointed at Cress, her expression cold and distant. "I'm sorry, but that was horrible. You have no talent. Are you sure you were meant to be a hacker?"

Cress bit her lip and nodded, afraid that her worst fears would come true. "Yes…" she whimpered.

Gianna raised an eyebrow and let out a small, strained laugh. "You'll have to step up your game, sweetheart. If those shells"-she gestured to Ruby and Petunia- "learn to hack before you do, Sybil may be forced to euthanize you."

Cress couldn't help it. A single tear slipped out of her watering eye and slid down her cheek. Ruby and Petunia always taunted her about her slow progress and how she would be executed if her hacking wasn't good enough, but Cress had told herself that they didn't know for sure and tried to ignore them (to no avail). But now, an _**expert**_, straight from her majesty's hacking team, was telling her the exact same thing. Mistress would kill her. Cress couldn't deny it anymore-she was doomed.

Gianna's expression softened a bit, and a smidge of her usually bubbly kindness returned. (Again, we have the whole 'cuteness and lunars' thing.) Reaching out to pat Cress's hair, Gianna added; "And we don't want that to happen, do we? So learn!"

Turning away from Cress, Gianna turned around and went over to Sybil, whispering something and glancing at Cress. Sybil frowned even more before tapping something into a port, completely ignored the shells.

Ruby and Petunia came over.

"Wonderful," cooed Ruby, laughing maliciously.

"You're so talented," giggled Petunia, snorting.

"What did we tell you? You're never going to become a hacker." Ruby twirled one auburn curl around her finger and pretended to inspect her nails, feigning superiority and indifference.

"You know," Petunia managed to control the giggles. "I wonder how long you'll have until...you know." she pretended to slit her throat with one finger.

Cress wiped the tears off her cheek with one fist. "I'm not…" the words caught in Cress's throat. Did she really believe that?

Ruby and Petunia found this hilarious.

"You're in _DENIAL!_" sang Ruby.

"Pathetic. Useless. Worthless. You'll never amount to anything." Petunia shook her head and pressed one hand against her heart, pretending to care.

Suddenly, both twins looked up, froze, and waddled away innocently.

"That. Was. So. Freaking. Entertaining," whispered Ruby to Petunia, quietly enough so that Cress wouldn't hear.

"We're doing it again tomorrow." whispered Petunia back.

Cress looked up to see that Sybil was standing before her.

"Hello Mistress…" she squeaked.

Sybil frowned. "Today's 'progress' was rather disappointing. I expect more next time."

Cress bit her lip and nodded. "Of course, Mistress."

Sybil sneered, her beautiful face wrinkling in contempt. "To be honest, I'd throw a sharp object at you, but I couldn't care less who I have to get rid of as long as I get my two hackers."

At this point, Sybil seemed to lose interest. She strutted back to Gianna, not tripping once on her 6-inch stiletto heels.

* * *

**So, wtf was that? **

**I know I left off at what I call a 'boring cliffhanger'.**

**It's a cliffhanger (which I hate), but it's also boring.**

**BUT FEAR NOT! MORE IS COMING! (before Tuesday anyways) **

**want proof? It's half finished XD**


End file.
